Abstract
The economic approach to art and culture takes a rather positive attitude towards copies, reproductions, and fakes. In contrast, the art-historical view tends to regard them in a negative way. The multiplication of the original creates utility for individuals demanding and paying for replicas. However, forgeries do create some problems. Significant costs are created on both the demand and supply sides of a market by both originals and copies. But many such problems can be mitigated or even overcome by appropriate legal constructs and institutional arrangements.
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Related Literature
General accounts of copies, reproductions, and fakes in the arts are provided in
Dutton D (1983) The forger’s art: forgery and the philosophy of art. University of California Press, Berkeley
Hamilton C (1980) Great forgers and famous fakes: the manuscript forgers of America and how they duped the experts. Crown Publishers, New York
Jones M (ed) (1990) Fake? The art of deception. British Museum Press, London
Economic analyses are provided by
Benhamou F, Ginsburgh V (1998) Is there a market for copies? In: Mossetto G, Vecco M (eds) The economics of copying and counterfeiting. Franco Angeli, Milano
Deardorff AV (1995) The appropriate extent of intellectual property rights in art. J Cult Econ 19(2):119–130
Greffe X (1998) Intellectual property right in the digital age. In: Mossetto G, Vecco M (eds) The economics of copying and counterfeiting. Franco Angeli, Milano
Hansman H, Santilli M (1997) Authors’ and artists’ moral rights: a comparative legal and economic analysis. J Legal Stud 26(2):95–143
Koboldt C (1995) Intellectual property and optimal copyright protection. J Cult Econ 19(2):131–155
Pommerehne WW, Granica MJ (1995) Perfect reproduction of works of art: substitutes or heresy? J Cult Econ 19(3):237–249
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Frey, B.S. (2019). Reproductions in Art. In: Economics of Art and Culture. SpringerBriefs in Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15748-7_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15748-7_5
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